This list reflects the rankings of all 152 lists published as of March 12, 2013. It reflects a few minor chnages from the original All-Time Top Ten List - Gatsby is up, Huck is down, Proust has been harpooned by Melville. Scroll to the bottom to see that list.
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1877). Anna’s adulterous love affair with Count Vronsky — which follows an inevitable, devastating road from their dizzyingly erotic first encounter at a ball to Anna’s exile from society and her famous, fearful end — is a masterwork of tragic love. What makes the novel so deeply satisfying, though, is how Tolstoy balances the story of Anna’s passion with a second semiautobiographical story of Levin’s spirituality and domesticity. Levin commits his life to simple human values: his marriage to Kitty, his faith in God, and his farming. Tolstoy enchants us with Anna’s sin, then proceeds to educate us with Levin’s virtue.
2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1857). Of the many nineteenth-century novels about adulteresses, only Madame Bovary features a heroine frankly detested by her author. Flaubert battled for five years to complete his meticulous portrait of extramarital romance in the French provinces, and he complained endlessly in letters about his love-starved main character — so inferior, he felt, to himself. In the end, however, he came to peace with her, famously saying, “Madame Bovary: c’est moi.” A model of gorgeous style and perfect characterization, the novel is a testament to how yearning for a higher life both elevates and destroys us.
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1869). Mark Twain supposedly said of this masterpiece, “Tolstoy carelessly neglects to include a boat race.” Everything else is included in this epic novel that revolves around Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. Tolstoy is as adept at drawing panoramic battle scenes as he is at describing individual feeling in hundreds of characters from all strata of society, but it is his depiction of Prince Andrey, Natasha, and Pierre — who struggle with love and with finding the right way to live — that makes this book beloved.
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925). Perhaps the most searching fable of the American Dream ever written, this glittering novel of the Jazz Age paints an unforgettable portrait of its day — the flappers, the bootleg gin, the careless, giddy wealth. Self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, determined to win back the heart of the girl he loved and lost, emerges as an emblem for romantic yearning, and the novel’s narrator, Nick Carroway, brilliantly illuminates the post–World War I end to American innocence.
5. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955). “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.” So begins the Russian master’s infamous novel about Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged man who falls madly, obsessively in love with a twelve-year-old “nymphet,” Dolores Haze. So he marries the girl’s mother. When she dies he becomes Lolita’s father. As Humbert describes their car trip — a twisted mockery of the American road novel — Nabokov depicts love, power, and obsession in audacious, shockingly funny language.
6. Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871–72). Dorothea Brooke is a pretty young idealist whose desire to improve the world leads her to marry the crusty pedant Casaubon. This mistake takes her down a circuitous and painful path in search of happiness. The novel, which explores society’s brakes on women and deteriorating rural life, is as much a chronicle of the English town of Middlemarch as it is the portrait of a lady. Eliot excels at parsing moments of moral crisis so that we feel a character’s anguish and resolve. Her intelligent sympathy for even the most unlikable people redirects our own moral compass toward charity rather than enmity.
7. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884). Hemingway proclaimed, “All modern American literature comes from . . . ‘Huckleberry Finn.’ ” But one can read it simply as a straightforward adventure story in which two comrades of convenience, the parentally abused rascal Huck and fugitive slave Jim, escape the laws and conventions of society on a raft trip down the Mississippi. Alternatively, it’s a subversive satire in which Twain uses the only superficially naïve Huck to comment bitingly on the evils of racial bigotry, religious hypocrisy, and capitalist greed he observes in a host of other largely unsympathetic characters. Huck’s climactic decision to “light out for the Territory ahead of the rest” rather than submit to the starched standards of “civilization” reflects a uniquely American strain of individualism and nonconformity stretching from Daniel Boone to Easy Rider.
8. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1600). The most famous play ever written, Hamlet tells the story of a melancholic prince charged with avenging the murder of his father at the hands of his uncle, who then married his mother and, becoming King of Denmark, robbed Hamlet of the throne. Told the circumstances of this murder and usurpation by his father’s ghost, Hamlet is plunged deep into brilliant and profound reflection on the problems of existence, which meditations delay his revenge at the cost of innocent lives. When he finally acts decisively, Hamlet takes with him every remaining major character in a crescendo of violence unmatched in Shakespearean theater.
9. The Stories of Anton Chekhov (1860–1904). The son of a freed Russian serf, Anton Chekhov became a doctor who, between the patients he often treated without charge, invented the modern short story. The form had been over-decorated with trick endings and swags of atmosphere. Chekhov freed it to reflect the earnest urgencies of ordinary lives in crises through prose that blended a deeply compassionate imagination with precise description. “He remains a great teacher-healer-sage,” Allan Gurganus observed of Chekhov’s stories, which “continue to haunt, inspire, and baffle.”
10. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851). This sweeping saga of obsession, vanity, and vengeance at sea can be read as a harrowing parable, a gripping adventure story, or a semiscientific chronicle of the whaling industry. No matter, the book rewards patient readers with some of fiction’s most memorable characters, from mad Captain Ahab to the titular white whale that crippled him, from the honorable pagan Queequeg to our insightful narrator/surrogate (“Call me”) Ishmael, to that hell-bent vessel itself, the Pequod.
Windows users, it’s time to breathe a collective sigh of relief. After what seemed like an eternity trapped in the clutches of Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest and greatest operating system is finally here to save us.
Tech bloggers the world over have sung Windows 10 praise. Is it really that great, or is it just that anything is better than the nightmare that was Windows 8? Who cares? Install it right now and you’ll never have to deal with Windows 8 again.
In a recent post, we told you how to skip the queue and install Windows 10 right now. Your job isn’t done once you’ve got it installed, however, because there are a few things you need to make sure you take care of right away.
By default, Windows 10 is set up to share your Internet connection over Wi-Fi. This is a nifty feature if you want it, and a dangerous one if you don’t. To be on the safe side, you should probably just disable it right from the get-go.
Open the Settings app from the taskbar or Start Menu, then open Change Wi-Fi settings and click Manage Wi-Fi settings. Now, uncheck all the boxes under “For networks I select, share them with.”
You may also want to slide the toggles to off underneath “Connect to suggested open hotspots” and “Connect to networks shared by my contacts.”
Customize the Start Menu
Ahhhhhhhhhhh! The Start Menu is back!
It’s OK, you can get excited. We won’t judge. Once you get past the simple fact that the Start Menu is there, however, it’s time to begin making the most of it.
We published a big post on Wednesday about customizing the Start Menu, and we highly suggest that you check it out. In it, you’ll learn how to add and remove tiles, how to enable and disable live tiles, how to resize the entire Start Menu and how to change its appearance.
Manage restarts
I switched from Windows to OS X as my primary desktop operating system eight or nine years ago, though I still used both for a while. Now, the only regular interaction I have with Windows (aside from testing it for BGR) is when friends and family call me for help because something is broken.
This happens all the time. As great as Windows 10 is compared to Windows 8, I don’t expect these calls to end anytime soon. And of course, four out of every five frantic calls I get are resolved with the same fix: A restart.
People… when something goes wrong with your computer, restarting is the first thing you should try. In fact, you should be restarting your computer regularly if you don’t shut it down each night. That said, automatic restarts after software updates that are unexpected can be very annoying. So here’s an important setting to tweak:
In the Advanced update section within Settings, select Advanced Windows Update options. Then, in the drop-down menu at the top, choose “Notify to schedule restart.”
This way, your computer will still restart regularly whenever updates are installed, but you’ll get a warning first.
Meet the Action Center
Microsoft’s spin on Apple’s Notification Center is called the Action Center. It might not be the most original feature in the world, but it’s quite useful and we listed it among the five best fixes for annoying problems in Windows 8. Live tiles are nifty, but having one location for all of your notifications is a welcome change.
Seriously, get to know the new Action Center.
Don’t let notifications own you
As great as the new Action Center is, however, think of it like an iPhone. If you give every app carte blanche access to notifications, you’ll lose your mind. Instead, you want to analyze things on a per-app basis and choose which apps can pop up notifications and which should stay quiet.
In Windows 10, you can adjust notifications settings by clicking the notifications icon in the system tray. The click All settings, followed by System and then Notifications & actions. Here, you’ll be able to pick and choose which apps can display notifications and which ones cannot. You’ll also be able to tweak a few additional settings pertaining to notifications.
3 Insanely Easy Ways To Make Your Blog Posts More Interactive
Blogging is becoming more and more essential for businesses to stay on top of their game, especially when it comes to their content marketing strategies.
As I read blogs, I’ve notice three things that most people DON’T do that could help improve interaction within the posts, boost social sharing, and increase your time on site.
Sometimes, if you write a golden nugget, you need to take the extra step to get people to share it.
1) Add “Tweet This” Links to Your Golden Nuggets
Every blog post you write generally has a few really good one-liners or “golden nuggets” of information that they hope people will take away with them.
In fact, you probably hope that they take that message and spread it to other people, so why not make it easy for them to do so? (Tweet this…see what I did there? )
How to do it:
All it is, is a simply hyperlink. You’ll need a certain URL to make it work, but it’s really easy, and I’ve even done the work for you.
https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=TYPE YOUR GOLDEN NUGGET HEREhttp://short.url.here via @YOURHANDLE
Feel free to copy and take that URL wherever you need to, but don’t forget to change out the parts that are underlined.
(Note: You may have to save your post as a draft before you publish it in order to get the URL, then go back to the tweet and put in the shortened URL)
Now, all you have to do is put a “(Tweet this)” after your golden nugget and hyperlink those two words with the link above.
2) Point Readers to Content That They May Be Interested In With A “See Also”
Mashable does a great job at keeping readers on its site by suggesting articles they might be interested in right within the article they’re currently reading.
I first noticed this trend on Mashable when I would find myself reading post after post without realizing that I was falling into Mashable’s trap. Calling it a “trap” is kind of harsh and isn’t entirely accurate whereas the word “trap” has a negative connotation.
In almost every single post on Mashable, you’ll find somewhere in the middle of the text a phrase in bold that says “SEE ALSO: [Title Of Related Post]” that is hyperlinked to an article that might tickle my fancy.
The suggested articles don’t always have to directly relate to the article that you’re reading, but what Mashable does well is answer the question “If someone is reading this article, what else are they likely to enjoy?”. (Tweet this)
For example, If someone is reading a satirical article, chances are they’re interested in reading another humorous or entertaining article; if Solar Joe is reading a tutorial article on how to install solar panels, maybe he’d enjoy an article on how much solar panels cost; or, if Engineer Jane is reading about the latest update on a CAD program, perhaps she’d also like to see your post on the “Ten Worst CAD Designs Ever Created”, etc.
3) Add Media To Your Posts as “Bonus” Content
When applicable, another great practice to create engaging posts to add “bonus” content such as a video, white paper, or presentation. There are plenty of free tools that make this easy to do, the most obvious being YouTube and SlideShare.
Both YouTube and SlideShare have the ability to embed your content directly within your post (if you don’t know how to embed a YouTube video, click HERE). SlideShare is a fantastic tool and probably one of the most under-utilized in business (Agree? Tweet it). You can not only upload PowerPoint presentations to SlideShare, but you can also upload pdf’s, white papers, and even videos.
When you add your “bonus” content at the bottom of a post, you can even put a hyperlink to another article that is related to that video or presentation.
I hope this has been helpful! What ideas do you use to make your posts more engaging and interactive? Let me know in the comments.
XOLO has launched the Black 1X that is the 2nd handset in the Black series. The 1X is powered by 64 Bit Octa Core processor, it is running Hive UI based on Android Lollipop and loaded with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. The Black 1X is priced at under ₹10,000.
XOLO Black 1X Unboxing Inside the box you will find the Black 1X handset, screen guard, SIM Tray ejector pin, user guide, warranty card, data cable and travel charger (5V ~ 1A). Earphone is not included in the box. SAR value : less than 1.6W/kg.
Design The Black 1X body is made of plastic. The design is a bit different when compared with other smartphones and that also makes the handset look unique. The left and right sides have metallic finishing (plastic) and top and bottom sides have leather type finishing (plastic). 1X has got a curvy design with no sharp edges.
Handset is extremely comfortable to hold, its amazingly light weight at 126 grams with battery and dimensions are 72.25 x 144.55 x 7.50mm. The rear side has got a glass layer that looks almost like the front screen.
Power button and volume rocker is on the left side. SIM tray is on the right side. Audio jack on the top and at the bottom there is mic, dual vents (only one speaker) and micro USB port.
There are dual SIM slots – SIM 1 is a nano SIM slot and SIM 2 is hybrid slot that can hold a micro SD card or a nano SIM. So you can use Nano SIM + Nano SIM or Nano SIM + micro SD card.
Native video calling is not supported. There is LED notification and good number of sensors – Accelerometer, light, proximity, Gyro, hall and Magnetic.
Display The Black 1X sports a 5 inch screen with full HD resolution (1920 x 1080p). The screen also comes with dragon trail glass protection. Colour reproduction is good, touch is smooth and responsive and viewing angles are also pretty good.
Memory, Storage and OS 1X is loaded with 3GB RAM (about 2GB free on first boot) and 32GB ROM (29GB free). There is micro SD card slot and apps are getting installed on external storage. OTG also works – you can connect pendrives using OTG cable or directly use OTG pen drives.
This handset is running Hive Atlas UI based on android Lollipop 5.1 (64 bit).
Performance The XOLO Black 1X is using MediaTek MT6735 (antutu reports it as MT6753 which is correct) 1.3GHz 64 Bit Cortex A53 octa core processor coupled with Mali T720 GPU. Performance is smooth, no lags and handset heat up is well under control – max battery temperature I encountered was 40 degrees.
Benchmark
Benchmark App
Score
Quadrant
16164
Antutu (64 bit)
1st – 33372 , 2nd – 33240
Nenamark 2
53.4fps
Multi touch
5 point
Gaming Asphalt 8 got installed on the external storage space. I played the game in high visual quality mode and it was playable. There was a minor lag (hardly noticeable). This smartphone can play many high end games.
Camera There is a 13MP AF camera on the rear with single LED flash support. Front camera is 5MP resolution and also comes with front flash support. Camera quality is average. Outdoor shots turned out great, though it was not able to focus minimum closeup objects that were possible using other handsets. You will need to move slightly away from the subject for closeup to avoid blurry focus.
Night / low light shots is disappointing. Check the sample images and video at the end of this review.
Others Sound output is little low (running media files / playing games) when compared in general, but acceptable, however ringtone volume is quite loud. 4G worked on both the SIM slots both 1800 and 2300 bands are supported ( I am using 2300 band). No issues with WiFi, GPS (fast lock) and Bluetooth.
Battery Performance 1x houses a 2400 mAh non-removable battery that takes less than 3 hours to fully charge. Battery performance is okay, you can expect 3 to 4 hours of continuous moderate to heavy usage. The handset will last for just about a day / over a day with mixed usage.
Performance
Time
Battery drop %
Battery Max Temp
Benchmark
12 Minutes
5%
38 degree
Gaming (Asphalt 8)
18 Minutes
10%
39 degree
FHD movie play with full brightness + Wi-Fi on
18 minutes
9%
39 degree
Wall Charge (on standby)
2 hours 45 minutes
15% to 100% (wall charge)
36 degree
Verdict For the price the XOLO Black 1X looks really good. The key attraction is 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, 5 inch FHD screen, light weight and unique design. Camera and battery performance are average. Overall a good buy for price tag of under ₹10,000.
This is not recommended to be used for OLED-screens(AMOLED), but have no problems running on LCD screens like the Xperias have.
[REQ]Any developer that could help me with something? I want to make this app matching system UI with ready filters and put it in Setting so that it will look integrated like the galaxyscreen settings, that would help ppl think the screen problem is just a soft problem and doesn't depend on hardware. Please be kind and PM me
As many have noticed, and even made some ppl crazy is the yellow tint on our screen(HTCOne X, Xperia Ion, S etc).
Searching for screen filtering at play store made my day!
I installed it and then made a filter with: Red 0 Green 0 Blue 8 Brightness: 100% Contrast: -0
Second thing you should do is: Press the MENU-button and go in to Options Autorun [YES] Hide status bar icon [YES] Then restart your phone
Enjoy your screen!
Personal experience: That made me feel like replacing the whole screen! I use this daily nonstop (24/7), I have not noticed any battery drain at all. My screen feels harshly brighter and shows much more accurate colors than without.
We're used to thinking of iPhone "S" series handsets as 'incremental' updates; the iPhone 5, for example, saw several major changes to its design and features, while the iPhone 5s was more-or-less the same phone with a few tweaks. With the move from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, however, it's a slightly different story.
It's still true that the iPhone 6s is not a major landmark overhaul model, but by building in some smaller but still substantial ways from last year's model it's a bit of a bigger deal than previous S category devices. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus may be regarded as incremental in terms of how they fit in Apple's upgrade plan, but the changes are significant; a much faster processor, heftier camera hardware, and a brand new way to interact with the touch display.
Apple has announced it has sold more than 13 million new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models, a new record, just three days after launch. iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in more than 40 additional countries beginning October 9 including Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Taiwan. The new iPhones will be available in over 130 countries by the end of the year.
“Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customers’ feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos, and we can’t wait to bring iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to customers in even more countries on October 9.”
It probably won't come as too much of a surprise to many, after all, it took Apple a good long while to switch from smaller displays to larger ones (and even then many of "the faithful" weren't entirely convinced), but according to a report from analytics firm Localytics the smaller iPhone 6s is around four times more popular with consumers than the iPhone 6s Plus phablet. The iPhone 6s holds a much larger share of all iPhones currently in use at 1.5% compared to the iPhone 6s Plus at 0.4%.
But with that said, last year's iPhone 6 is still the most popular handset at the moment with a share of 33.2%, indicating that for all the new features onboard the iPhone 6s edition it may not have been enough to convince everyone to make a switch.
Regardless of its stellar sales, some people always say the S series is worth avoiding. “Wait until they get around to the prime number again (ie: the iPhone 7). But in my opinion, after using the iPhone 6s for about a week, it is clear that this is the most significant S series release to date. Here’s my full review.
iPhone 6s review: Specs
Display: 4.7-inch display with a 1334x750-pixel resolution at 326ppi, 3D Touch enabled
Dimensions: 138.3mm x 67.1 mm x 7.1 mm
Weight: 142 grams
Storage: 16, 64, or 128GB
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Processors: A9 chip with 64-bit architecture and M9 motion coprocessor
Front camera: FaceTime HD camera. 5 MP photos and 720p HD video. Retina Flash
The same stick that some use to beat iPhone fans still exists: yes, visually this is almost identical to last year's redesigned iPhone 6, with the same ceramic metal feel and slightly protruding camera that means you can place it side by side with the iPhone 6 and not really notice the difference.
The only marginal change is the additional thickness, very likely to facilitate the new 3D Touch technology on the screen.
Compared to other phones on the market the iPhone 6S still manages to mix that feeling of premium build with a light and thin phone - it's a joy to hold.
Apple's nod to the improved build with reinforced 7000 series aluminium is clearly a direct result of the iPhone 6's 'Bendgate', where the phone was slightly prone to changing shape if pressure was applied. While Apple doesn't need sympathy, it was still a bit harsh that it got singled out for this issue when many other handsets could also bend if you tried.
Either way it's now much less prone to changing shape even in the back pocket. Pro tip for all phone owners: don't apply force to the expensive object in your pocket, mmmkay?
iPhone 6s review: Storage, CPU, and RAM
Yeah, this seems like a no-brainer, but it is backed up by manufacturing facts. Apple’s A-series chip manufacturing partners, like Samsung, have moved on from the 20nm process found in the A8 to a 14 and 16nm process for the next generation chip. The smaller size means more transistors can be fit on the same surface area. More transistors mean the chip will be both more powerful while offering greater power efficiency. In other words, the A9 won’t drain your battery as fast as the A8 did.
Apple says its next-generation A9 chipset is around twice as powerful as last year’s model — the one inside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus — and far more power efficient, meaning despite not having a larger battery, this year’s iPhones will boast performance improvements of an hour or so over their predecessors. Additional reporting claims the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus now feature 2GB of memory as well — twice as much as 2014’s models.
“A9,” said Apple in a statement to the press, “Apple’s third-generation 64-bit chip powers these innovations with 70 percent faster CPU and 90 percent faster GPU performance than the A8, all with gains in energy efficiency for great battery life. The A9 chip and iOS 9 are architected together for optimal performance where it matters most, in real world usage. M9, Apple’s next-generation motion coprocessor, is embedded into A9, allowing more features to run all the time at lower power, including “Hey Siri,” without iPhone needing to be plugged in.”
Unfortunately on the storage front there’s nothing new in the iPhone 6s. It still comes in 16, 64, and 128GB models. The latter two are fine, but the 16GB model is just stupid. You’ll use the space up in no time. As for CPU and RAM, the iPhone 6s gets its biggest upgrade ever. It now features the A9 chipset, which Apple says is 70% faster than the iPhone 6’s A8 and has an astonishing 90% faster GPU performance. It has also doubled the RAM to 2GB.
So how does this translate to real world use: well, frankly, it’s unbelievable. I only came from the iPhone 6, but even I can tell how much faster the iPhone 6s is. Apps open lightning quick–everything I do on the phone is lightning quick. Even graphics intensive games load in a fraction of the time that they did on the iPhone 6.
If the 3D touch display doesn’t give you enough reason to upgrade, the improved CPU and double the RAM is more than enough reason in itself. This is by far the fastest iPhone ever–some benchmarks have even pegged it as fast and powerful as the new MacBook.
Camera
The expected upgrade from the iPhone 6's camera has arrived: the iPhone 6S has a 12MP snapper and it looks like it'll deliver in spades. The need to jump in megapixels was rarely warranted for a brand beyond the need to impress consumers with higher numbers, but this year things are starting to jump forward.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is taking stunning photos with a 16MP option, and Sony's Xperia Z5, packing a 23MP sensor and super fast autofocus, actually uses those additional pixels to good use... Apple needed to keep up.
While I've only tested the new camera briefly, there's no doubt that it's an upgrade. It still retains the speed of snapping I've come to expect from an iPhone while the clarity is there to see too.
The usual feature set - which is actually pretty useful - is also still present, with time lapse and slo-mo both present and correct. Apple still hasn't fixed the most annoying part of the camera (sliding the finger up and down to change the exposure as the only way of altering the photo, which is basic and actually quite hard to do) and I was hoping to see a manual mode here.
The new Live Photo option, which takes a 1.5 second photo either side of the shot, feels more like a gimmick than a really useful option. You have to remember to activate it, but it's really impressive that it doesn't seem to affect the shutter speed - it should take a while either side, but it buffers while you're taking the picture.
3D Touch but old screen
Now onto the biggest change for the iPhone 6S, 3D Touch. This changes everything for Apple users, and while it's not enough of a reason to upgrade from the 6, it's a pretty nifty trick that again promises to make current iPhone 5S owners feel like they're getting a real upgrade with their new phone.
The main difference 3D Touch brings is the ability to interact with on-screen instructions in different ways. It's too early to delve into all the ways that the new power will work, but the system (for those that haven't seen an Apple Watch or the new Macbook) is simple: you can tap like before, but press a bit harder on an icon or message and you'll get a new menu popping up.
Imagine it's like right-clicking the mouse to get a secondary menu, and you're pretty much there. It's a cool new feature, although one that app developers will need to work with for a while to really get the best out of.
The iPhone 6S screen, new touchy-powers aside, is pretty much identical to the one seen on the iPhone 6. That's not necessarily a bad thing... while it's true that Apple has one of the lowest-res screens of all the flagship phones, the way it's displayed (laminated to the glass, highly colorful) makes it still look beautiful
iPhone 6s review: Battery
The battery life is something I haven't noticed any difference in between my iPhone 6s and my iPhone 6. That's saying somethig too considering the iPhone 6s actually has a smaller battery (1,715 mAh) than the iPhone 6 (1,810 mAh). Matter of fact, in spite of the smaller battery, Apple says the battery life is just the same: up to 14 hours on 3G; up to 10 hours on 3G, up to 10 hours on LTE, up to 11 hours on Wi‑Fi; up to 11 hours of HD video playback; and up to 50 hours of audio playback.
Given that the iPhone 6s does have a smaller battery, yet has the same battery life of the 6, it's obvious Apple has saved some juice by using more power efficient chips (the A9 and M9) and better software algorithms to conserve power. That most likely explains why I haven't noticed any battery life difference between the two phones. That being said, I'm sure some people will notice some battery life difference. It just depends on how much you play around with your new iPhone and also how much you use some of the newer features like 3D Touch.
Battery Gate, however, changed all of this. According to multiple reports, the battery performance on Apple’s iPhone 6s can vary by as much as two hours depending on which chipset -- Samsung or TSMC -- it uses. This is a pretty big disparity and any iPhone launched wouldn’t be complete with some kind of insert-word-here-Gate disaster. Ars Technica broke the news, below The Guardian’s 2p on the issue:
“The A9 chipset,” reports The Guardian, “the lump of silicon that lies at the heart of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, is designed by Apple but manufactured by two independent contractors: Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Taiwan’s TSMC. The two chips interact with the rest of the hardware identically, based as they are on the same designs, but differences in their production is apparently having an effect on how efficient they are at doing their jobs.”
Even though Apple has achieved the same battery life with a smaller battery, it would have been nice if they would have kept the larger battery to give it even more juice–however, that wasn't probably technically feasable because they needed to make space for the Haptic engine this time and the battery is the bigest space hog, so that was the most logical choice of what could be shrunken down.
iPhone 6s review: Price and Verdict
The iPhone 6s, as expected, doesn’t look like much from the outside. It is exactly the same as the iPhone 6, save for the slight difference in weight, and Apple has largely left the aesthetics alone, meaning if you weren’t a fan of the plastic strip and nubbin-style camera sensor then, well, you’re not going to like this one all that much either.
The only physical change that is noticeable aboard the iPhone 6s is its new colour -- rose gold. Beyond this the handset is simply a refinement of what came before. Apple has improved the camera, performance in general, thanks to the A9 chipset, and added in a bunch of new functionality with 3D Touch.
Should current iPhone 6 users upgrade then? I’d argue no, especially if you’re still happy with how your iPhone 6 handset is functioning. Ditto for iPhone 6 Plus users. Nevertheless, should you upgrade to the iPhone 6s I do not think for one second that you’ll be disappointed. Apple has tweaked a lot of things under the hood and they’re all pretty palpable when you pick up and use the handset. Even more so if you’re coming from an iPhone 5s or lower.